Harry Houdini is one of the people I think is tough and by tough, I mean daring!

Life
Harry pretended he was born on April 6, 1874 in Appleton, Wisconsin. But for real, he was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. His real name was Ehrich Weisz. His father was Mayer Samuel Weisz, a religion teacher, whose first wife died in childbirth. Ehrich's mother was his fathers second wife, Cecilia Steiner. The amount of children they gave birth to is unknown, but six of their kids lived to become adults. The family later settled to America and changed their last name to Weiss. Harry's father got a job as a rabbi with a help from his friend, the salary for the job was $ 750

Mayer's knowledge of religion were known as old-fashioned by the people who went to the Appleton church and after a few years, he got fired. The family later moved to Milwaukee when Harry Houdini was eight years old. But, life was harsh. When Harry was young , he sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family. When he was not working, Harry involved in sports and practiced acrobatic stunts. His first appearance in front of the audience was October 28, 1883. He called himself as "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air."

When Harry Houdini was 12 years old, he ran away from home in a train and it took him to Kansas. A year later, he united with his family but was still struggling to survive in New York City. Harry worked at various jobs such as, messenger, necktie cutter, and photographer's assistant. At the time, Harry and his younger brother Theo began to take interest in magic. Harry's idol was Robert-Houdin. Harry actually got the idea of changing his name from Robert-Houdin. Harry added an "i" to Houdin. The "Harry" is the American Version of his nickname "Ehrie."

Harry later started doing magic shows at age 17 He later met Bess, a Singer and dancer. They fell in love and married in 1894th Harry and Bess remained Husband and Wife for the rest of their life. Harry always gave her the credit for his success, and got the habit of writing her a love note everyday.

Harry Houdini once faced a really hard challenge that included his health. When a teenager once said,"Is it true you can take any punch to your stomach?". Harry agreed, so the teenager punched hard several times. Harry passed away because of that incident. He had peritonitis because he had a ruptured appendix. Harry took the punches the teenager boy gave him until the last three. The boy punched him to early to let Harry tighten up his stomach. Harry was really brave and tough by agreeing to the punches but he also did many acts such as Chinese water torture cell, suspended straight jacket escape, overboard box escape, milk can escape, and e.t.c.

external image 220px-Harry_Houdini_and_his_wife.jpg Picture of Harry and his wife

File:Houdini performing Water Torture Cell.jpg
File:Houdini performing Water Torture Cell.jpg
Harry performing Chinese water torture cell

File:HoudiniSubmergedCrate.jpg
File:HoudiniSubmergedCrate.jpg
Harry performing overboard box escape